“I look at Lavonte David and I see a young Derrick Brooks, not necessarily how he plays, but just like his instincts and just his knack for football,” Barber said in November. “That was one thing Derrick really had, just kind of a knack for the game. Lavonte’s absolutely shown that in the first part of his career. ”

Freeman’s point was that David is constantly picking up things during practice plays that the Bucs offense is working to hide, and then David calls defensive adjustments to counter the tip-offs he gets from the offense. Freeman said David is so gifted in this area that Freeman will sometimes watch practice film and can’t pick up on what David is seeing.

Ronde Barber was a master at all that, Freeman said, but the quarterback’s implication was that David takes it a step further.

Joe wonders how much better David can get. Will he get better? The season David had in 2012 was astounding.

Joe, Most of them are all young Bucs and they are leaning from each other and the coaches. We really don’t know what we have until they start playing.

If Herm Edwards the other night on SirusXM said that the Bucs may have a Defensive backfield that may be among the best in the league is something and regardless of who is the SAM LB, the other two are still learning and getting better and the DL has at least one Pro Bowler on it and I think the Offense will explode since this is their second year together with the same OC and the older Bucs teaching the younger Bucs like the defense.

Am I drinking Kool-Aid, I don’t know because I, like everyone else, has not seen them play for real yet, but there is no doubt they are a better team all around.

Doing Bo Pelini proud!! David’s was a monster in his two years at Nebraska, and it’s awesome watching him play for the Bucs and still improving on what he’s shown in the past. For those not familiar with David’s college career, he’s a turnover machine waiting to be switched:ON.

I’m really happy that LD is able to do that.. my bigger concern is this: if a 2nd year LB can pick up tells in the Bucs’ offense then I’d imagine an experienced defensive coordinator will also be able to find these things. I’m not overy worried yet— but there were times last year when opposing defenses said they were able to predict Bucs’ plays.

Heh! Heh! I’ll bet some of these posters hate it when a draft pick of Dom’s shows star quality like David..and McCoy, and oh yeah, Martin…and Mike Williams ain’t half bad. Then there’s Clayborn and Bowers and Barron who I believe are going to be outstanding as well. Now we wait and see if Banks turns out to be another gem. If he does, how great will it be to have two shutdown corners and Barron and Goldson as safeties?!? Yep, looking forward to this season.

Our Defensive line is better than the stats show. When you have the WORST secondary in the league and your line is number one at stopping the run, and the opposing quarterback is hitting open receivers two seconds after the snap…IT”S NOT THE D LINE!!!!! If a QB takes a five step drop and releases in 2-3 seconds to an open receiver than it doesn’t matter if you have the best pass rushers in the league. If we can just manage to cover consistently for 5 seconds from the snap we will get to the QB. Thats is why Dominik is going to wait until next season and spend that first round pick on a pass rusher. All I gotta say is hope he has some money stashed away for all these young guys in a few years…

He has got to be an absolute headache for opposing offensive coordinators. He’s a ridiculous quick twitch athlete to begin with and then you compound that with the ability to see what the offense is trying to do pre-snap….game over.
If he stays healthy he will lead this defense for the next decade and then some.

Getting a Derrick Brooks comparison from Derrick Brooks himself. When you get compared to Hall of Famers by other Hall of Famers after your rookie year, that means things are going pretty good and it’s not a fluke.

@Scubog some people are to complaining, as flies are to a steaming pile of turds. It takes away from David to make the assumption that he’s just a product of Freeman’s miscalculation, as the British branch of my family tree would say, that’s “bullocks”